Phish Frontman Trey Anastasio Goes Solo April 23, 2002 - Massachusetts Daily Collegian by Scott Eldridge II Album Review - Trey Anastasio Phish shocked many of their fans and others in the jam band community when they wrapped up their Fall 2000 tour with the announcement that they were taking a break. That hiatus has resulted in the pursuance of a multitude of side projects taken on, or intensified, by the members of the crowd-drawing jam band. Lead singer and guitarist Trey Anastasio has put his musical talents into the star-studded collaboration Oysterhead with Les Claypool and Stewart Copeland while Page McConnell has been on tour with Vida Blue. While Oysterhead has been selling out their shows at almost every venue booked, Anastasio has also found the time to compile a new and unique band and release his solo debut, Trey Anastasio. The solo work of Anastasio on this album is anything but solo. He has been working with a new band, preserving the classic sound that has proved strong in the past and making it intensely more creative and musically rich. The addition of four horns is a pleasant strength of the Vermont-heavy band. The sound of Anastasio is not a brand new one - instead it is the obvious indulgence of an artist entirely in control. As Anastasio remarks, "I was always writing charts for Phish, but a lot of them, I think, would have sounded even better with acoustic instruments...now I've got a chance to write that way." The reminiscent sounds and harmonies of Phish are found throughout the album, notably in the eleven-minute "Last Tube," where expansion of sounds serves to augment the electric intensity of Anastasio's guitar. With Phish, Trey Anastasio was carrying his weight with both guitar and his ability to intrigue with vocals. This solo effort finds that, while his vocal and musical harmony still exists, it is added to by the support of a more present band. In no way was Phish a band of absent members or their sounds, but the new sounds of musicians brought in for this effort works as concrete support to what Anastasio already brings to the table. The addition of horns, the strength of the percussion, and the use of strings on many of the tracks show Anastasio's musical ability in arranging and utilizing the entire spectrum of sounds available to him. He goes beyond the genius of his guitar work seen in the past, and pulls together an entire album of new sounds. "Night Speaks to a Woman" is one of the strongest early tracks off this album. Anastasio's guitar is heard throughout playing off the stronger sound of the horns in support. The female backup vocals that come through in the chorus are essential in their own way of propelling the sound of the horns and guitar into the forefront. In the following track of "Flock of Words," Anastasio's vocals form a sweet melody with the keyboard work of Ray Paczkowski, resulting in one of the slower songs on the album. "Flock..." is by no means weak, and is a standout example of Anastasio's vocal ability. "Drifting" comes out later on the album with a middle of the road intensity that snowballs to a greater sound as the song pinnacles with the musical combination of all the band's sounds. With keyboards, horns, guitars and vocals, "Drifting" is a strong show of Anastasio's overall control in arranging this album. "At the Gazebo" is perhaps the truest sign of Anastasio the composing artist. As a solely instrumental performance, "At the Gazebo" parades the horns and strings especially, and brings out images of a gazebo band, long since forgotten by the popular music of the present. "Mr. Completely" evokes the truest Phish and jam band sound of all those displayed on the album. Anastasio takes the lead with his enticing and dominating guitar sound. But Anastasio does not leave the rest of the band by the wayside - instead he offers them a winding guitar path to follow. This album comes through showing the strength and versatility of Anastasio. He branches beyond his guitar and extends beyond the already open and diverse sound that he helped to create with Phish. As a solo artist, he puts his interests in a combined effort of excellence. This album comes out as a successful venture into all of the open doors that stand in front of Trey Anastasio.